An Urgent Request From Sister Patricia

Our nation’s “great recession” is continuing to impact substantially the people of the Mid-Shore area we serve.

More and more of the jobless and the under-employed are seeking our financial support to pay their rent and utilities. While the government has provided some funds to help meet this need, the administrative costs being incurred by SMM associated with processing and distributing these subsidies in a timely and equitable manner are not being adequately reimbursed. Although staff literally spend hours writing and administering these grants to comply with the reams of new regulations governing their distribution, the stipend to perform that service is not even remotely close to the cost of providing it.

The women needing these services are increasingly burdened with an expanding range of difficult issues related to addictions and mental illness.

In this job market and in this rural area, transportation to jobs and schools has become an ever greater issue for the women and staff.

Saint Martin’s House is the only transitional residence in the five-county area. At this time, we are being forced to reassess our capacity to handle some of the above problems, but we are ready to accept the challenge of how best to retool and reshape our response in a direction that if both beneficial to our clients and cost-effective for our agency.

With your help, SMM has been able to meet the needs of our clients in the past. However, our private donations, this year, although generous, have fallen quite short of previous years. Foundations have cut back their funds, also. Caroline County Commissioners, who have usually contributed $20-$25,000 towards operations, were unable to give us anything this year.

Each year, more than 700 individuals provide financial gifts to Saint Martin’s. We are grateful to you, and I am asking you to find it within your heart to consider an additional generous financial contribution. If you are not already a donor, I am asking that you become one today. Please support our ministries as you are able.